A mixture of finest English type, mixed in old copper drums. The best tobaccos of the world, red Kentucky, Virginia, Turkish, Carolina Black and Syrian Latakia give this natural English mixture a mild to medium taste volume.

The smoky, woody, lightly sweet Cyprian latakia is the star component, though this is no lat-bomb. The dry, smoky, woody, slightly sweet and sour Turkish tempers the lesser red Kentucky dark fruit sweetness a mite as a light supporting player. The Virginia has a grassy, hay-like citrus flavor in the background. I can't quite figure out what the Carolina Black does besides temper potential rough edges, but it must be a minor addition. Has a mild nic-hit. Won't bite or get harsh. Burns cool and clean at a moderate pace with a very consistent flavor from top to bottom. Leaves almost no moisture in the bowl as the tobacco easily burns to ash. Requires few relights. has a nice after taste and stronger room note. Can be an all day smoke for the experienced English smoker.

A very refined English. The tobaccos are well fermented and married to the extent that I have trouble separating them. I can note a few things though. There's a really nice sweetness that's counter-balanced by a sour note which seems to be from the Orientals. There's a nice nose tingle here from a mild spiciness. The Latakia is, at first, subtle then comes along nicely in balance with the other components. Very smooth and smoky. Nice and complex flavors overall.

Mildly moist from the tin, but lights right up and burns readily. Mild to medium in body. Medium in flavor. This blend reminds me a little of the Germain English blends. Just a wonderful smoking experience. I'm betting that this will age very nicely. Will be stashing some. If you like your English smooth and refined you should give this one a try.

Smoking a bowl as I write this review. I bought this blend because I couldn't get my hands on any PH Dark Strong to try. Sometimes second choices turn out to be a really good thing! Great smell out of the tin. Nice cut, easy to pack and light. The Latakia is a predominant feature, very pleasant but not overwhelming....and I LOVE Latakia! The Orientals are pleasantly noticeable, giving a nice tingle to the tongue. No bite for me, but I suspect it can nip if one doesn't mind their Ps and Qs. Goes very nicely with a good strong cup of black coffee. If you make it a Mocha, you may have found nirvana! Glad I bought this and will definitely purchase more. Great smoke.

At first: This is the "John Aylesbury Finest British"-Blend. Both made by K&K, both the EXACT same description. I wonder if there are more exact copies of this, who else is K&K producing for?

Now the review: This is my first real "English"-Blend. I tried and loved Latakia blends (SG Choco Flake; Bill Baileys Best Blend) before, even (almost) pure Latakia Flakes (P.H: Lat. Flake). But this one only carries a rather subtle amount of Latakia (at least in the taste, the tin smell is dominated by latakia imo). You can clearly taste it - but it won't overwhelm you and the other components arent drowned by its unique taste. So I'd guess this ones also for Latakia-Beginners, too.

The excellent Latakia taste is enriched and accompanied by a light sweetness, a nice floral note and maybe a whiff of Kentucky taste to be noticed. All is (like said before) very well married and makes it hard to differentiate the components.

One thing to notice is, that this a a very mild blend and the strenght isnt somewhat close to something you'd expect from a English-Blend. Not too light imho, but pleasantly mild.

It burns very good and is easy to light. Nothing too complex, but surely nothing flat in terms of taste. A fine blend you can enjoy while being distracted doing sth. different, due to its simple - but characterful and rich taste.

I have now smoked two Peter Heinrichs english blends and, although I didn't find them offensive or anything, I found them both to be somewhat strange. First came #169 - dark in color and tone it was of medium strength and somewhat flat in it's english qualities. Both it and blend #39 have a casing that we reviewers cannot quite identify; very light and sweet and probably a simple sugar-based solution. This casing is very fleeting and is gone before the first quarter of the bowl is finished.

So, that's the background to this review. Now, let's examine this tobacco: same difficulty prying the paintcan lid off as in #169, same sweet casing fragrance, same brown and black appearance, but this time a more narrow and normal ribbon cut. Let's load-up and smoke. Not bad, the blend is somewhat sweet but definitely an english - rather nice. Hmm, it smokes and tastes like another english blend I have tried recently - Hearth & Home's Ambassador's Blend, only not as strong.

This lack of comparative strength becomes important in what follows. Like with any new blend, I relaxed and waited to see what happens next. This is what happened next - nothing. My first bowl was in a Northern Briars medium sea urchin that I bought two years ago from The Pipe Tart at the 2011 St. Louis show. Although this pipe has a narrow but deep chamber that always makes it a good blend-testing tool, by the one-third point of the smoke nothing came through the stem that I could taste or smell! This blend just became weak early-on and proceeded to get weaker and weaker. By the half-way point of the bowl I couldn't detect anything - I couldn't even tell if I was smoking a pipe, other than seeing my exhaled smoke! I've rarely had this happen in my pipe smoking experience. The only other occurance that comes to mind was a roll-up pouch of Schipper's Tabac that I smoked as a graduate student - bland and tasteless and best enjoyed rolled as a cigarette with a glass of beer. Next I mixed #39 half and half with H&H Ambassador's blend, since they seemed similar in aroma, thinking the stronger H&H tobacco would kick things up. This mixture was stronger than the #39 by itself and pleasant but, by the one third point of the bowl, it began to fade in taste and settled down to a tepid english smoke - very strange.